The Lake County Captains (28-26, 51-70) used two homeruns in the fifth inning to propel to a 5-3 win against the Lansing Lugnuts (22-33, 54-70) on Saturday night at Cooley Law School Stadium. The Captains beat the Lugnuts for the seventh time this season.

In today’s week ending edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at High-A Carolina outfield prospect Jordan Smith who continues to make incremental progress and has the skills but has a few things he is still working on before he is taken more seriously as a prospect. In addition to that he provides some comments from Ross Atkins on how the organization prioritizes prospects for trades as well as comments on several players at Carolina and Lake County, plus he provides insight into the development of Paolo Espino, Kyle Crockett, Ryan Merritt, Luis Lugo and others.

Is there anything better than seeing a top prospect take his team to victory? Sure, Lake County would not have won 1-0 without a shutout pitching performance, but Dorssys Paulino's solo home run provided all the offense the Captains needed. Paulino has continued to turn things around following his rough start and he sustained that constant progress Thursday night. To read about Paulino and everything else you need to know about the night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he goes Around The Farm.

The Lake County Captains defeated the South Bend Silver Hawks 1-0 due to several scoreless innings from reliever Luis Morel on Thursday night. Shortstop Dorssys Paulino put the Captains on the board right off the bat as he welcomed Shipley with a solo home run in the first inning. The solo shot was Paulino's fifth of the year.

One pitcher who is on the rise as far as relief prospects go in the Cleveland Indians system is High-A Carolina reliever Louis Head. After being cut in college from the Texas Tech baseball team, he has since rebounded to not only get himself drafted and signed by a Major League Baseball team, but become an interesting relief prospect. The IBI's Zachary Francis recently caught up with him and tells his tale...

Considering that Carlos Santana, Yan Gomes, and Lou Marson were all not developed in the organization, it is great to see catchers like Jake Lowery and Alex Lavisky performing like they did Wednesday night. The catching depth looks good in the minors and Lowery and Lavisky are a part of that. To read about what made their performances noteworthy and everything else you need to know about Wednesday night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

The Lake County Captains downed the South Bend Silver Hawks for their first extra-inning win of the season as Joe Sever touched down with a game-winning double for a 10-9 win on Wednesday night. Right-hander Felix Sterling (3-4, 4.86) received the start for the Captains to counter Silver Hawks' righty Blake Perry (7-5, 3.97).

The Lake County Captains strung together a handful of wins last week, including a three-game sweep of the Bowling Green Hot Rods. The sweep was huge, especially against one of the better pitching staffs in the Midwest League, and will hopefully give the Captains a boost as they continue to make a push for the playoffs in the remaining weeks of the season. The IBI's Stephanie Metzger reflects on the Captains' previous week.

In this week’s first edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the strides that Lake County right-hander Robbie Aviles is making but also looks at the warning signs of possible trouble up ahead with him. He also provides several comments from the front office on High-A Carolina players such as Joe Colon, Tony Wolters, Louis Head, Nick Pasquale, Bryson Myles and others, provides the whereabouts of Adam Plutko and why he is not pitching, and has a detailed infirmary report on just about every injured player in the minors.

In today’s Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the quiet but good season that Double-A Akron first baseman Jesus Aguilar has had, what improvements he has made, what kind of impact he could have in Cleveland and when he could arrive in the big leagues. He also discusses the emergence of Joseph Colon as a legit starting pitching prospect, the kind of prospect Nellie Rodriguez is, provide tons of quotes from the front office on Akron players such as Kyle Crockett, Jeff Johnson, Jake Lowery and others, and more!

After being sent down to Triple-A, Vinnie Pestano has pitched like a man consumed by the desire to get back to the major leagues. To read all about Pestano's night, how he could fit back into the major league bullpen, and everything else you need to know about the night in the minor leagues, join Arthur Kinney as he takes you Around The Farm.

The Lake County Captains (22-25, 45-69) fell victim to a five run fifth inning that included three errors as the Dayton Dragons (26-22, 54-63) held off a late comeback to take the series finale 9-7 on Friday night.

Both Daisuke Matsuzaka and Bryson Myles missed the entire month of May as injuries took their toll on the pair's effectiveness. Now that both are healthy, Matsuzaka and Myles are performing well and making waves and Thursday night was no different. To find out all about Matsuzaka and Myles' nights and everything you need to know about Thursday in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

The Lake County Captains (22-24, 45-68) used a three-run seventh inning to take the middle game of a three-game series with the Dayton Dragons (25-22, 53-63) on Thursday night. A big inning late in the game has been the key so far in the series.

There are just four weekends left in the minor league season, and with that in mind Tony takes stock in the players in the Indians farm system at Lake County, Mahoning Valley and Arizona to let us know who is increasing/decreasing their prospect value. He reviews several players including Eric Haase, Jeremy Lucas, Joe Sever, Dace Kime, Cole Sulser, Luis Lugo, Clint Frazier, D'Vone McClure, Sean Brady and many more.

Jesse Winker hit his 16th homerun of the season in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Dayton Dragons (25-21) defeated the Captains (21-24) by a final of 3-2. The first two hitters of the inning reached base and then jogged home on the three-run shot. The Dragons won just their fourth game of the season against the Captains.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!